Southwest Leads Satisfaction Rankings, US Airways Brings Up The Rear

This isn't the most surprising news we've posted lately. Customer satisfaction among US airline passengers is at the lowest point in seven years, according to a survey conducted by the University of Michigan.

The Associated Press reports the survey was conducted during the first quarter of this year, and asked some 26,000 passengers about their perception of airline quality and value, whether they would fly the same airline again, and about their overall satisfaction.

Or, lack thereof. Those fliers scored the airline industry as a whole at 62 on a scale of 100 based on rankings of the seven largest US carriers. That splits the difference between last year's ranking of 63, and the worst-ever rating for airlines, a 61... which was posted in 1995.

In this year's survey, customers rated Southwest Airlines a 79 on a scale of 100 -- good enough for the top spot on the survey (if only a C-minus in most high school classes -- Ed.) A veritable chasm exists between the top ranking and the rest of the field: Continental and American tied for second place, each scoring a middling 62... and that was before the latter cancelled over 3,300 flights in April, due to the grounding of American's MD-80 fleet.

The lowest-ranked carrier, US Airways, fell to a dismal 54 percent satisfaction score... two points lower than potential merger partner United Airlines. Delta and Northwest filled in the center of the list, with customer satisfaction ratings of 60 and 57, respectively.

Claes Fornell, author of the report, noted this is the third consecutive drop in airline satisfaction... and while passenger discontent isn't uncommon, Fornell added this year's survey showed some "really dismal numbers.

"There's no other industry anywhere that has so many basic mishaps in terms of not delivering the basics," he said. "They're supposed to deliver passengers with their luggage to a particular destination within a certain timeframe, and they frequently fail to do that."

Fornell added the airlines aren't solely to blame for the phenomenon, however... as in many cases, passengers are getting what they're willing to pay for.

"They buy primarily on price, and very little else," he said. "The result of that is very low service and a business model of cost-cutting that really leaves no one happy, certainly not the businesses, the shareholders or the flying public."

Fornell also had some thoughts on the impact airline mergers might have on customer satisfaction. "When it comes to mergers, combining two negatives doesn't make a positive," he said.

FMI: www.umich.edu